Take A Breath

It was late, as Nick and Marty laid in the dark in their hotel room. Marty had fallen asleep, but Nick laid awake holding her. He couldn’t believe that just two days earlier he had almost lost her. Ever since then she had been waking up with nightmares, and it broke his heart to see her that vulnerable. He just hoped that with the holidays coming up and her month-long winter break having just started, she would be able to relax and hopefully move past this. He was worried about how it would effect her, and he would have for her to go back feeling terrible, while he was miles away.

She whimpered and cried out and he held her tighter, whispering things to her as he tried to calm her down. It took a while, but she finally quieted down, and he sighed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get much sleep, but he hoped that she would.

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“So I invited Joe for Christmas Day with my family. I figured that since he and Kevin and Dani would be with you guys for Christmas Eve, I would go ahead and ask him to be with my family during the day. Is that too soon?” Heather ranted as she sat on the couch in the hotel with Marty, Dani, and Bobbie.

Nick, Kevin, and Joe had gone out for the day to finish their holiday shopping, and they left the girls at the hotel to talk and hang out. After returning to Chicago earlier than expected, Barb and Scott needed time to get Marty’s old room ready before she and Nick stayed there during the holidays. Nick hoped that having Bobbie around would help Marty, so she tagged along and Joe had picked up Heather for the same reason.

Marty shrugged. “No. I think it’s fine. I mean, you have been dating him for about a year now. Bobbie has only been dating Nate for a few months now, and he’s coming to Christmas Eve with our family.”

Her sister nodded. “It’s true. He wanted to come.” She chuckled.

“Just don’t let your family freak him out. That would be bad.” Dani sighed. “That goes for both of you.” She gestured to Heather and Bobbie.

Marty nodded and didn’t speak. Ever since the incident, she had been pretty withdrawn from a lot of things. Even when Nick had left with his brothers, she nearly had a panic attack. She knew she was probably overreacting, but she couldn’t help it. Every time she was away from Nick she was afraid she wouldn’t get to see him again.

She was pulled from her thoughts when someone nudged her, and she looked up to see Bobbie sitting next to her. “You okay?”

She bit her lip. “I am fine. I’m just tired.” Marty lied.

Bobbie eyed her, but didn’t press the issue. She had heard Marty cry out during the night and she felt bad that there wasn’t something more she could do to help her sister.

“Well anyway, aren’t you excited to be able to spend a month with the guys?” Heather exclaimed, trying to divert the conversation away from Marty’s pain.

For the first time since the incident, Marty gave a slight smile. “You have no idea. It feels so good to be home…well…at least, my old home.”

“I can’t wait to see what you and Nick did to the house before you moved to school.” Bobbie agreed.

Marty turned to her sister. “So you aren’t mad that you are missing New Years Eve with your friends?”

She shrugged. “Not really. I am glad to spend time with you guys and the rest of Nick’s family.”

Danielle chuckled. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that we agreed to let Nate stay at our house while you are at their house?” She asked Bobbie.

Bobbie rolled her eyes. “Well…I suppose that will be nice, too.” She grinned.

“Oh whatever.” Marty teased. “Just be happy that his parents, and our parents, actually agreed to let him come with us.”

Heather turned to Dani. “So you are going to let a teenage boy stay in your house while his girlfriend stays not even a mile away? Good luck with that.”

They laughed. “It won’t be that bad. Otherwise we are making him stay with Kevin’s parents…” She grinned and winked.

There was silence for a while, before Marty started chuckling. “Bobbie…Mom would just love your hair-do.”

Her sister rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

During their silence, Bobbie had pulled her long hair into a bun on the top of her head, something that their mother called “the samurai bun”. It drove Barb crazy, but they did it anyway.

Later that night, after the guys had returned, everyone figured it would be nice to just hang around and watch a movie.

“Let’s watch ‘The Grinch’!” Heather suggested with excitement.

“NO!”

Everyone looked at Marty and Bobbie with confused looks on their faces.

Nick chuckled and shook his head. “They have a tradition in their family, where they watch certain Christmas movies as a family. The Grinch is one of the biggest ones.”

Bobbie nodded. “Exactly. My dad would make us sleep in the garage if we watched it.” She laughed. “It is practically a sin in our house.”

“Okay, so no to ‘The Grinch’.” Kevin said with a grin as he chose a different movie.

They ended up watching ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ but halfway through Marty turned and saw Joe and Heather making out on the floor, where they were sitting next to Bobbie. “Wow, guys. Nice.”